Apparatus for carbureting air and transporting liquids.



No. 650,367. Patented May 29, I900. E. BOUCHAUD-PRACEIO. APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR AND TRANSPORTING LIQUIDS.

(Application filed. Sept. 29, 1898.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

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INVEN7'OR4 WITNESS/56 m: NbRRIS PETERS 00.. vnoru'u'mon wnsmnmnm n. c,

Nu. 650,367. Patented May 29, I900;

' E. BOUCHAUD-PRAGEHI.

APPARATUS FOR CABBURETING AIR AND TBANSPORTING LIQUIDS.

(Application filed Sept. 29, 1595. (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No. 650,367. Patented May 29, I900. E. BOUCHAUD-PRACEIH.

APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR AND TRANSPORTI NG LIQUIDS.

(Application filed. Sept. 29, 1898.) (No Model.) 3 sheets-Sheet 3V.

M.OILW! NITED STATES PATENT owes.

EDOUARD BOUOHAUD-PRACEIQ, or ANGOULFME, nitration;

APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR AND TIRANSPORTING LIQUIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo- 650,367, dated May 29,1960.

Application filed September 29,1898. Seria1No.692,162. a. model.)

To all? whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDOUARD Bonc'HAuD- PRAOEIQ, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing in Angouleme, Charente, France, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Oarbureting Air and Trans porting Volatile Liquids, which invention is fully set forth in the following specification.

The forms of carbureting"apparatus heretofore proposed have the disadvantage of being costly, complicated, dangerous, and difficult to work. The system which I have invented, on the contrary, is extremely simple in its application, can be used'by any one, and does not require any special installation.

My invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an end elevation of one of the carbureting-cans. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical section in the plane of the oblique line 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a vertical section of a different construction of can. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section thereof. Fig. 6 is a plan thereof. Fig. 7 is a perspective of one of the blocks used in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of a building, illustrating the application of my system. Fig. 9 is a fragmentary section similar to Fig. 8, illustrating another application.

My invention is carried out in the following manner:

A is a petroleum-can filled with small blocks of porous absorbent material, preferably small blocks of wood which have been freed from incrusting matter by being boiled in an alkaline lye. I can use equally well, however,wood in its natural condition, felt, pasteboard, peat, coke, or the like. These blocks B are arranged in relation to each other like brickwork and are kept a little apart from each other, both at their sides and at their ends, by the flat heads of small pins, so as to form a multitude of laminar channels, which allow free circulation of air through the whole can. Thus each block is arranged -to permit circulation of air over its surfaces to absorb the vapor of the volatile liquid with which the block is saturated.

At the top and bottom of the can there are arranged within it sheets of metal gauze or perforated metal plates C C, which form small shallow chambers extending over the whole surface of the can and permitting diffusion of the air on the one hand and the 'c'arloureted gas on the other hand.

The two openings D and E of the can are used, the one, D, for admitting the outside air and the other, E, as an exit for the carbureted air or gas, for which purpose it is fitted with a pipe F, which is long enough to extend nearly to the bottom of the can. This exit-pipeF instead of being cut straight at its lower end may be cut obliquely, as shown in Fig. 4, so that in the event of condensation occurring on the bottom of the can the end of the pipe may be more or less closed without entailing irregularity of flow of the gas.

In a modification shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 each of the porous blocks B, one of which is shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 7, is surrounded by a thinnarrow band 0, which serves to separate the block from those on either side of it. As seen in Figs. 4. and 5, the band of each block being placed at right angles to the bands of the blocks which surround it,'it is only necessary to use a single band for each block.

The blocks B may be composed of a variety of diiferent woods; but that which I have found most suitable and which I use in the manufacture of my carbureter is a particular kind of wood which grows on the banks of the Rio Sinu in Colombia, which the natives of the country call bolandero. It is a tree of the order Malvacece, species Baobab, and grows in a form similar to that of high chimneys, the trunk at the base being sometimes two or three meters in diameter and tapering slightly upward. The trunk, which grows sometimes to more than fifty meters in height, is, totally free from branches and terminates at the top in a little tuft of leaves.- This wood when it is dry is of extraordinary lightness, its specific gravity being sometimes as low as .10, about one-half that of cork. It is to this slight density, determined for the first time by me, that the porosity of the wood is due, and its consequent power of absorption of liquids. Furthermore, it has the property of fixing and retaining strongly the liquid imprisoned in its pores. In fact,

it is capable ofstoring a quantity of hydrocarbon liquid equal to the total volume occupied by the wood. To take the best advantage of the absorbent properties, the Wood is out first into disks of fifteen millimeters thickness at the most in order to open the vertically-extendin g wood-cells,and thus cause the better penetration of the liquid into the bodyto of the wood. The blocks B may be composed directly of these disks or of portions of such disks. This particular wood absorbs, as stated above,a very large quantity of oil and seems'to have a peculiar retaining strength, sot'hatthe oil is practically immovable within-the blocks.

The apparatus is charged by filling it with petroleum-spirit, so that the blocks B may be saturated therewith and no liquid may remain unabsorbed by the blocks. Disincr-usted wooden blocks can absorb a volume -of liquid equal to within a few per cent. to .their own volume. For carbureting I may .use any suitable volatile hydrocarbon-such 2 5 as alcohol, acetone, ether, &c.or a solution of camphor or naphthalene. The air as it enters the apparatus at D and becomes laden with vapor of petroleum-spirit forms a mix- ,ture of higher specific gravity than air and go falls to the bottom of the can, whence it is siphoned out by the pipe F.

The pipe D, which admits the air, and the pipe E, which conveys it away, may be bent at right angles toward each other above the -apparatus, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, so as -to form a handle, facilitating the manipulation of the apparatus. The exit-pipe arranged in this way forms a siphon.

The construction of the apparatus renders o-possible a systematic arrangement of several cans in series. When a can is exhausted, it is replaced by a fresh can placed at the beginning of the system of pipes.

NVhen installing the apparatus, the exit- 5 pipe E'is joined to the pipe G, Fig. 8, of the existing system of pipes, whereupon the siphoning action may be started by reversing -thecan and causing the gas toflow by its ,weight, Once the apparatus is in use, its

go-operation is continuous, the gas being specifically heavier than air continues to flow through the siphon G into the system of pipes, -and thus arrives at the burners, as shown in *Fig. 8.

Any'kind of gas-burner can be supplied by thismethod, regenerative burners, incandescent burners, or the like. By the same system a larger reservoir than the can described -may be installed, Fig. 9, and being filled with mass.

absorbent material may be charged with spirit from time to time.

The exit-pipe of the gas instead -of being joined at the top part of the can with a tube extending to the bottom thereof may be arranged at the bottom of the can, the apparatus then becoming a veritable fountain of sures its descent in the system of pipes.

The hereinbefore-described apparatus is essentially distinguished by the structure of the absorbent mass, which is made of blocks of Wood or other absorbent material, and thus constitutes a light incompressible spongy It is this property which I utilize when using my apparatus as a receiver for the transport of volatile liquids. The liquid to be transported is absorbed by the spongy wood to the extent of four-fifths of its volume. To recover the liquid, it is conveyed in the state of vapor, as though it were tobe used for making gas, either by aspiration only orwith the aid of heat, into a receiver, which is put into communication with the siphon and where the oil is condensed to the liquid condition.

What I claim is 1. A carbureting apparatus comprising a can filled with blocks of absorbent material adapted to be impregnated with a volatile liquid,'an'd spaced apart for circulation of air over their surfaces, the can being divided by gauze partitions and having two orifices at its top, one of which serves to admit air, while the other is fitted with a tubeextendi-ng to the bottom of the can which acts as a siphon to draw ed the carbureted air.

2. A carbureting apparatus comprising a can containing an absorbent mass saturated with a volatile liquid, having orifices permitting air to flow through said can, and an'outlet-pipe extending from the outlet-orifice to the bottom of the can, and having its open lower end arranged to prevent siphoning out any condensed liquid.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ED. BOUOlIAUD-PRACEIQ.

Witnesses:

J AnEMonL, P. ANDREo'rI-I. 

